Yesterday NASA reported that an ammonia leak had been discovered on the ISS. Astronauts Tom Marshburn and Chris Cassidy are embarking on an emergency spacewalk to fix the problem. NASA TV is broadcasting the walk live, and you can follow along on the somewhat safer journey past the break.
Update (3:54PM ET): Nasa has reported within the last or so that the faulty pump has been successfully replaced. The entire spacewalk took about six and half hours to complete, according to NASA’s Twitter.
The International Space Station has been a font of good news and scientific progress since it received its first human residents at the start of the millennium, but now it may be starting to show its age. The current crew reported seeing damage to the vessel’s truss structure yesterday and NASA has since confirmed there’s been a leak of ammonia from the station’s cooling system. The Agency says the problem isn’t dangerous and that regular ISS-style activities are continuing as normal while earth-bound helpers figure out a way of re-routing power channels before part of the cooling system shuts down. If you want to hear what unflustered voices sound like at an altitude of over 200 miles, check out the audio of Commander Hadfield’s initial report of the leak at the source link below.
Update: Commander Hadfield has also confirmed on Twitter that there’s been a “big change in plans,” and that astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn will perform a spacewalk today to fix the leak.
NASA’s space shuttle fleet was retired back in 2011 and since then the agency has not launched any U.S. astronauts in space on its own. It has entered in to an agreement with Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, to let U.S. astronauts ride on their Soyuz spacecraft for missions to the International Space Station and back. NASA initiated the Commercial Crew Program, a public-private partnership, three years ago to make sure that American companies would be launching their astronauts in to space from U.S. soil by 2015. However due to budget cuts this plan now faces a two year delay, forcing NASA to extend its agreement with Roscosmos till 2016 at a cost of $424 million.
NASA and Roscosmos originally signed an agreement for space transportation back in 2009, so this extension doesn’t come as a shock. Though it is a setback for SpaceX and its competitors who hope to rocket astronauts to the ISS from U.S. soil, and that too at a relatively lower cost than what the Russians are charging NASA. If more Commercial Crew Program budget cuts hit NASA in fiscal year 2014, it might once again force the agency to extend their agreement for transportation aboard the Soyuz. To keep its plan on schedule, NASA needs the full $821 million in funding.
Astronauts’ stays on the International Space Station generally last for around 6 months or more, so it makes sense that they’d start getting hit with a little nostalgia for the motherland they’re so casually encircling. How nostalgic, you ask? Very: 1,129,177 photos worth, to be exact. Rocket scientist Nathan Bergey had the ingenious idea to turn these ISS snapshots into the ultimate space scrapbook—by plotting the coordinates of every single image taken from space. More »
You’ve no doubt seen plenty of video of SpaceX rocket launches on this very site, but let’s face it, nothing compares to seeing a live launch. Great news for fans of watching things slip the surly bonds of Earth: the commercial space company’s Dragon capsule is set to do precisely that atop a Falcon 9 carrier rocket at 10:10AM ET this very morning — you know, roughly half an hour from now. The unmanned rocket will deliver supplies to astronauts aboard the International Space Station. And if you’re not currently within driving distance of Cape Canaveral and in possession of the the proper clearances, you’re still in luck. You can watch a livestream of the event unfold in the source link below. And for more space action, make sure to check out the latest episode of the Engadget Show.
Update: We have liftoff!
Update 2: While the rocket liftoff seems to have gone according to plan, the company has reported a problem with the capsule. According to a tweet from Elon Musk, there’s an “issue with Dragon thruster pods. System inhibiting three of four from initializing. About to command inhibit override.”
Update 3: Miss this morning’s festivities? No worries, just hop the break to find an embedded video of the launch.
This is how it sounds inside the International Space Station as recorded by Commander Chris Hadfield inside the United States module of the ISS. [Soundcloud via Twitter] More »
The first ever musical recording in space (that we know of anyway) was performed just a few days ago on the International Space Station by Col. Chris Hadfield, commander of the International Space Station. The song, which is already climbing up Reddit’s r/Music page, is an original Christmas Carol called Jewel in the Night.
Based on the commander’s Facebook and Twitter pages, he and his crew are celebrating Christmas in every way possible while they’re away from their families. They even have a Christmas tree on the ceiling, thanks to what the commander calls “the beauty of a weightless Christmas.”
Col. Hadfield is married, with three adult children, one of whom sent us his Christmas Carol.
The song is interesting, as it depicts Christmas from a birds’ eye perspective, from space. The International Space Station crew is spending Christmas as far away from Earth as possible, and while I try to stick with the classics, no situation is more suited to an original melody.
Here’s the SoundCloud file:
It’s crazy to think that someday, probably soon, when space travel has become a consumer industry, that this could be the Christmas Carol of outer space.
I mean, we made it through the Mayan Apocalypse (and the Black Friday Apocalypse), so in my book we’re good to go for at least a few more centuries.
In other words, get used to Jewel in the Night. One day, it too will be a classic with Oh Holy Night and Jingle Bells.
Lyrics
So bright, Jewel in the night. There in my window below. So bright, dark as the night. With all of our cities aglow.
It’s long been our way To honor this day And offer good will to man.
And know, where eever we go, It’s come round to Christmas again.
So far, shines every star. They’re without limit to see. So grand, far away land Beckoning, calling to thee
And let it be shown Where ever we go In all of the wonders above,
With all that we bring There’s no finer thing Than this message, this province of love.
A love for the families That gather below. Love for the stranger That you’ll never know.
For those who aren’t with you Who wander above.
So bright, jewel in the night. There lies the cradle we knew. Home of all that we love And all of our memories, too.
It shall be our way To wander away And take with us all that we know. And never cease this message of peace From Bethlehem so long ago.
It shall be our way, to wander away, And take with us all that we know. And never cease, this message of peace, From Bethlehem so long ago.
Even the most opulent Beverly Hills home featured on Cribs can’t even begin to compare to this half-hour tour of the International Space Station led by NASA ISS Commander Sunita Williams just hours before she returned to Earth on the Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft. More »
Donald Pettit is, as well as being a NASA astronaut, an exceptionally keen photographer—which is why he has over 10 top-of-line DSLR cameras littering the International Space Station. In this video, he talks about the complexities, and joys, of photography in space. More »
If you’re a lazy astronomer, the kinda person who likes gazing into the night sky but never plans ahead, good news: NASA has launched a new service which will pop you a text message or email whenever the international space station is about to pass over your place, so you can dash outside and take a look. More »
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